The Red Skelton Hour (1963)
Directed by Seymour Berns
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Synopsis by Hal Erickson
Red Skelton's guest star on this telecast from January 1, 1963 is Martha Raye, who appears in the appropriately titled comedy sketch "Of Mouth and Men." Capitalizing on the publicity surrounding the yet-to-be-released Elizabeth Taylor version of Cleopatra, the sketch casts Martha as an aggressively amorous Queen of the Nile, who carries a torch for the sublimely indifferent Roman slave Nauseous (Red). Tommy Noonan plays Caesar in this sketch, which is highlighted by an outrageous slave-auction sequence (with a patently obvious dummy standing in for Skelton during one slapstick bit!) After Martha gets to sing a song or two, the show closes with The Silent Spot, wherein Red plays a poor soul suffering from a New Year's Eve hangover.